Read what the walker’s had to say!

On Sunday, April 9th, hundreds of registered walkers gathered for the 7th Annual Walk Away Homelessness Event hosted by Family Promise Metrowest in Natick, MA. The Walkathon raised over $150,000, all of which will go to helping out the homeless in Massachusetts. SmileForASelfie was there to help capture some of the beautiful moments with Selfies!

“We are the First Parish of Sudbury team. We’ve supported Family Promise by serving meals and this is our second year walking! We also have dogs! Homelessness affects everyone especially kids and they have no choice. We love the program here at Family Promise Metrowest because it keeps the families together. This walkathon event is a lot of fun, so come out next year if you can!” -First Parish of Sudbury Team #SmileForASelfie

“We are here today to help ‘walk away homelessness.’ Homelessness is in your own back yard - both wealthy and less wealthy communities. We are part of a huge group of volunteers who support The Family Promise program. By offering a few hours of your time, you can help in this effort to help families without a home find jobs, and help Family Promise run other social services. Please join the effort!” –Susan #SmileForASelfie

“Having done a lot of volunteer work with Metrowest over the years with our Church we thought this was a good movement to come out and support. We’d like the world to know that homeless people that we have met through volunteering are just like you and me. They are wonderful people and are grateful for all the help we give. The Family Promise Metrowest walkathon is a great opportunity to support a worthy cause where people who are trying to help themselves get a boost where they need it and we’re all for that.” -Pete and Sara #SmileForASelfie

“I’m so glad there are so many people here supporting Family Promise Metrowest. Anything people can do in their neighborhood to help raise awareness about homelessness is crucial. It’s an invisible problem and we need everyone’s support. Thank you for whatever anyone can do! This walkathon event is just so much fun! There’s good food, great fellowship, fabulous giveaways and it's a wonderful cause! Just a great feeling of comradery here. People working together to make a difference. Each step matters!” –Janet #SmileForASelfie

“We are here today because we like walking. Also, homelessness is wrong and we need to end it! People should come out next year to this walkathon to help fundraise and help a lot of people” -Lily and Analise #SmileForASelfie

“We host Family Promise families at our church, St. Paul’s Natick, and we participate in host weeks where people come stay with us and we provide food. We realize through helping Family Promise that it's a great organization because it gives families a place to stay so we are out here supporting this event! We want the world to know that homelessness is out there in every community. We need to do whatever we can to help families. Family Promise keeps families together which is really great. At some shelters, the families would have split up. The best part about Family Promise is that they help families one-on-one. It's not just that they are saving the world, they are saving the world one family at a time. Family Promise helps them with things such as getting a job or housing so they don't find themselves in the situation again. We’ve bumped into people who have been in the Family Promise program and they say ‘hey you’re with Family Promise! You guys helped me out 5 years ago!’ and that’s awesome to hear. People should come next year to the walkathon to raise money for family promise!” -Linda, Joanne, Sam, and Caroline #SmileForASelfie

“Homelessness is a really big problem, especially here in Massachusetts. The average age of a homeless person is 8-year-old, so at Family Promise we use our resource to plan these events to raise money to help homeless people in the Metrowest area. Family Promise Metrowest’s day-center is in downtown Natick where we take in approximately 14 people a day. We provide housing, food, case management, and we also take the families everyday to a different church for a week at a time and members of the church community come by to serve dinner and breakfast for our families who then go back to the day-center, and then out to their jobs. This Walkathon event is so exciting. Since I have been here on the Board, our first event fundraised $40,000 and I hear today we raised over $100,000 so this is an amazing event. We have so many people from the community join us on the walk to raise awareness for homelessness and raise funds to help us on our mission and our program.” –Lecia #SmileForASelfie